Emigration from Finland to the United States

The first Finns took part in the Swedish expeditions in the beginning of the 17th century when the colony of New Sweden was founded along the Delaware river, presently the state of Delaware. A total of 500-600 Finns, mainly from the woodlands of Sweden and Norway, went to New Sweden. Among the descendants of the first settlers was John Morton (1725-1777) from Pennsylvania, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. His grandfather Mårten Mårtensson was from Värmland in Sweden, and according to some records born in Finland. Following the first Finnish settlers in the United States, seamen and gold miners arrived.

The big emigration to America is considered to have started in 1864 when four emigrant groups, which emigrated via Norway, settled mainly in Minnesota. Soon afterward the first immigrants arrived in the mining areas of Michigan, which state then became the most popular for Finnish immigrants. By the 1870's it was considered a mass emigration. Finns already living in the United States attracted larger numbers of people from their former home district, where the agents of the mining and shipping companies urged all young men and women to emigrate to the new country.

The largest emigration was during the period 1899-1913 with over 20,000 emigrants during the peak years. Emigration decreased after 1923, when the authorities started to regulate immigration. About 40 million people emigrated from Euorope to North America. From that perspective the emigration from Finland was insignificant:

Emigration from Finland to the United States started in the northern parts of Finland and spread southward. During the period 1870-1914 emigration was at its largest (65.9 % of the total emigration) and of the emigrants from that period, as many as 52 % came from Ostrobothnia (in Finnish Pohjanmaa and in Swedish Österbotten). Other areas with considerable emigration were the southern parts of Lapland, western parts of Oulu province and the Åland Islands.

(Kero 1996, s. 59)

The greatest number of the immigrants settled in a narrow area south of the Canadian border. They settled in the states of New York and Massachusetts, and in the Midwest near the Great Lakes states of Michigan and Minnesota. Later the settlement spread far westward to Montana, California, Oregon and Washington. Very few settled in the southern states.

About one fifth of the Finnish emigrants are considered to be Swedish-Finnish. Thus about 73,000 Swede Finns emigrated to America during the period 1870-1929. Since 1924 the mother tongue has been registered on the passport application, and 21.5 % of the emigrants indicated Swedish as their mother tongue from 1924-1929.

The immigrant very often chose the area in which to settle according to the occupation he had in Finland. A considerable number of immigrants could choose a variety of occupations in the new country, mainly because of the great demand for labor in some occupations. In the beginning of 19th century Finns settled in the cities on the east coast. Tailors and other craftsmen worked in New York, Boston (Massachusetts), Cleveland (Ohio) and Chicago (Illinois). The seamen during the 1860's and 1870's often became construction workers in harbor towns, while the stone quarries in Maine attracted hundreds of workers from Finland. Lumberjacks with Finnish ancestry were common in the northern states, and Fitchburg (Massachusetts), Detroit (Michigan) and Chicago (Illinois) provided jobs mainly to industrial workers. There were some Finnish fishermen in Washington and Oregon, with the Swede Finns mainly in Washington. One of the largest employers was the mining industry. Near the cities of Calumet, Hancock, Marquette, Ishpeming, Negaunee and Ironwood in Michigan, there were mainly copper mines; in South Dakota gold and silver mines, and coal mines in Montana and Wyoming. In California the Finns worked in the gold fields or on the fruit farms. Women were popular as maids in wealthy families on the east coast and they were also employed by the textile industry.

It was said that America was a paradise for women, but hell for men and horses. As time elapsed the workers involved in the logging and mining industries became farmers in the Middle West. In 1920 about 25 % of the Finns made their living from farming. They then owned about 15,000 farms, of which 75 % were situated in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin and 17 % near the Pacific coast. Compared to the German farms (140,000), Swedish farms (60,000) and Norwegian farms (50,000), the number of Finnish farms was very modest.

Usually people from the large emigration areas in Finland tried to settle together in the same areas in the United States. Emigrants from Ilmajoki, Nurmo and Jurva settled in Worcester (Massachusetts), from Isokyrö (Storkyro) in Ashtabula (Ohio), and from Evijärvi in Crystal Falls (Minnesota). Many Swede Finns from Ostrobothnia settled in Worcester, people from the Åland Islands in Norwood (Massachusetts), some from Uusikaarlepyy (Nykarleby) went to Coos Bay (Oregon) and people from the Åland Islands, Terijärvi (Terjärv) and Närpes (Närpiö) settled in New York.